Death of the iPod (Everyone's buying vinyl)

[.:.impossible]

You made a Prog record in your basement.

[xybert]

They still support Izod, no?

[Noj]

Kneel before iZod!

[Jim Alfredson]

You made a Prog record in your basement.

Yeah, I know. It's crazy. The drums sound HUGE and they were recorded in a 12ft x 20ft 1970's wood-paneled rec room with 7ft ceilings. It's amazing what you can do if you have the patience and knowledge. A lot of it was recorded on the road in hotel rooms as well and all the bass was done by Gary in either Los Angeles or Florida on his laptop with a cheap two channel interface and ProTools LE.

Don't get me wrong, I like listening to vinyl but I recognize it's really only about nostalgia and not sound quality. I think surround sound is much more engaging and exciting and even regular digital stereo sounds far superior.

R.I.P., Mr. Alfredson...

If that comment doesn't have the wolves chomping on your ass it's only because they fear you as the owner of this site.

*edit*

Didn't mean to discount the rest of that excellent post, but I need to think a little more on the subject before offering up anything intelligent in response.

Suffice it to say, I share your concerns.

Nobody needs to fear having an opinion about sound. However, as subjective as sound is the specs for modern digital don't lie.

[Scott Dolan]

You made a Prog record in your basement.

Yeah, I know. It's crazy. The drums sound HUGE and they were recorded in a 12ft x 20ft 1970's wood-paneled rec room with 7ft ceilings. It's amazing what you can do if you have the patience and knowledge.

I believe it was Stefan Wood who was recently arguing with me that you can't build home studios that rival, or at least come adequately close enough, to professional studios. I know folks who have done it, and have read about many others. If you have the time, patience, and money it can be done.

[Stefan Wood]

I never discussed this with you. I have no knowledge of what goes into building a home studio. It's not my field.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Stefan Wood

[Scott Dolan]

Sorry about that, brother. For some reason I thought it was you.

[Jim Alfredson]

I believe it was Stefan Wood who was recently arguing with me that you can't build home studios that rival, or at least come adequately close enough, to professional studios. I know folks who have done it, and have read about many others. If you have the time, patience, and money it can be done.

Honestly, it doesn't even take that much money these days. It used to be you had to spend $3000+ just to get ONE good condenser microphone. None of the mics I use cost more than $500 new and I certainly didn't pay retail for any of them. And do-it-yourself acoustical treatment is dirt cheap.

I am lucky to be good friends with a local studio owner (Glenn Brown) who has all the great outboard analog toys that make everything sound amazing and the ears to use them. I've learned everything I know about engineering from him. But we didn't really use much of that expensive outboard gear on THEO. I mixed it "in the box" (computer) and he used his regular mastering chain on it. That was it. There were a couple of things we fixed in the box and I had to purchase some plug-ins to do it right, but he guided that process and the results speak for themselves. The record sounds amazing. All dynamic processing, all the effects, all the EQ was done in the box except for the final mastering compression and limiting.

Even the piano is "in the box". I've had so many people ask me what piano I recorded and it's actually the Pianoteq plug-in.

BTW, Scott... we've talked before about Roger Waters and Amused To Death. Knowing you dig that album, I think you'd like THEO.

[Scott Dolan]

Ah, it was Shawn.

But yeah, home studio technology is just off the charts these days. It's not sub par mixers with cheap MIDI plug-ins anymore.

When I get off work today I'll definitely check out THEO, Jim! Thanks for the heads up.

Oddly enough, I was just listening to Amused To Death about three weeks ago. Two things struck me: how well it's held up over time, and how much more I seem to like it each and every time I listen to it. And I started out loving it to begin with. I'd like to say that The Endless River is just as good, but I honestly can't. And The Endless River is an excellent, excellent album.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Scott Dolan

[A Lark Ascending]

Western musicians may well be suffering from the 'customers' requirement for cheap music in a world of unregulated free-marketism.

But others are suffering far worse:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30532463

[Stefan Wood]

I've ordered the Fiio X1 player. Can do FLAC and a variety of other formats. What sealed the deal for me were two things -- a very good DAC, and the ability to swap cards (up to 128 GB). I give a brief user review once I receive it.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Stefan Wood

[Stefan Wood]

Got it in the mail yesterday -- gave it a test run this morning on the morning commute. All I can say is -- wow Very quiet sound stage, very musical and not clinical. Plays FLACs with ease, and even 320 Mp3s sound pretty damn nice.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Stefan Wood

[Scott Dolan]

Sounds great, Stefan. It looks really nice, too. Looks like it has some heft to it.

[Stefan Wood]

It is solid, but light. Like a pack of cigarettes. Interface is easy to use -- an old style click wheel, a center button and four control buttons surrounding it. Headphone out can be switched to a more powerful line out to connect to an amp or stereo.

[Scott Dolan]

Wow, that's far lighter than it looks! Enjoy.

[Stefan Wood]

Just a follow up: for anyone looking for an affordable high quality music player, this Fiio X1 does the trick. The sound is excellent, and the flexibility of swapping micro sd cards is a plus. It is a bit more hands on when coming to creating playlists -- essentially you have to create a folder on your computer and add the files yourself (a known issue that will be apparently addressed in a future firmware upgrade). The operating system is smooth and you can easily put this in your shirt pocket. I am running 24/192 flacs and it is flawless. Mp3s sound very fine as well.

[Jay]

I missed this series of posts before. I bought an X5 in July. A wonderful player. I love the GUI on the iPod (my classic is still kickin), which really cannot be beat, but as I mostly play albums all through (and really dig hi rez), I am very very happy and worth every penny.

[romualdo]

Wow! the X3 & X5 look impressive - It appears you can directly connect the larger headphones to these without a preamp (X3 & X5 or just X5) - I have Grados (SR 325) -> will they work?

Something I can't do with an iPod - I have a 10yo 4th gen iPod (40gb) - were they called classics then? - still running fine but maybe an upgrade to Fiio is on the cards

I presume they don't sync with iTunes?

What computer interface is used & are they Mac friendly?

[Scott Dolan]

Huh?

You can't connect your Grados to your iPod without a preamp?!

Sure you can. You can connect any headphones to an iPod. If they have a 1/4" plug, you just need a 1/8" adapter. You don't need preamps for any portable devices.

[Jay]

He is talking about matching impedance. Do a google search.

[Jay]

Wow! the X3 & X5 look impressive - It appears you can directly connect the larger headphones to these without a preamp (X3 & X5 or just X5) - I have Grados (SR 325) -> will they work?

Something I can't do with an iPod - I have a 10yo 4th gen iPod (40gb) - were they called classics then? - still running fine but maybe an upgrade to Fiio is on the cards

I presume they don't sync with iTunes?

What computer interface is used & are they Mac friendly?

I have thrown about five different headphones at it and they all played fine. The headfi'ers claim that you can obtain better results with an amp but for my purposes, I have been mightily impressed with such a high value for a lower cost (I am not about to buy an A&K player). It also can be used as a DAC (like the Audioquest Dragonfly).

No iTunes (and who needs it - all of the "upgrades" have made it a very disorganized mess). I cannot speak to Macs because I use Windows but you might want to head over to HeadFi. There is A LOT if discussion over there about this player.

[Scott Dolan]

He is talking about matching impedance. Do a google search.

?

The Grados are 32 ohm headphones, as are my PSB Speakers M4U1's. My iPod Touch (4th Gen) powers them just fine (not to the same level as my Headroom Micro Amp, nor should it…). Makes me wonder if he doesn't have a separate issue going on.

An amp should always provide improvements, but the cheapest Walmart special MP3 player should have no problem driving 32 ohm headphones. Let alone an iPod.

I'd hate to see him spend hundreds of dollars on a new portable player only to find he's experiencing the same problems with his cans.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Scott Dolan

[Stefan Wood]

They are not compatible with itunes. But you can drag and drop folders directly into the flash card via connecting the player to the computer through a micro usb cable. I picked the 1 over the 3 & 5 because of the improved physical user interface.

[romualdo]

He is talking about matching impedance. Do a google search.

?

The Grados are 32 ohm headphones, as are my PSB Speakers M4U1's. My iPod Touch (4th Gen) powers them just fine (not to the same level as my Headroom Micro Amp, nor should it…). Makes me wonder if he doesn't have a separate issue going on.

An amp should always provide improvements, but the cheapest Walmart special MP3 player should have no problem driving 32 ohm headphones. Let alone an iPod.

I'd hate to see him spend hundreds of dollars on a new portable player only to find he's experiencing the same problems with his cans.

thanks for the info

I need to qualify what I mentioned above - my Grados do run on the iPod unassisted but the SQ isn't that good (much better if you use a preamp - sorry to be misleading)

I use a Griffin Powerwave or a Nuforce DAC to get better sound

I presume the Fiio's will lead to better SQ (than iPod) without the use of a preamp/DAC

[Scott Dolan]

Ah, that makes sense.

I guess your usage of the term preamp added to the confusion. You're actually talking about an amp. In your chain, the iPod is essentially the preamp, the Powerwave is the amp.

I'd say the Fiio is definitely worth checking out if you're not happy with the sound quality of the iPod. My iPod lives in my car's glove compartment, and since car stereos aren't exactly the highest quality, the sound quality doesn't bother me. And I usually only listen to podcasts on my iPhone at work, so sound quality is of no consequence there either.

But, when I listen to music at home through my PSBs, they're always running through my Headroom Micro amp. Unless I'm moving about doing housework. I'm not sure I'd ever be content driving them with any portable device for serious listening, but Stefan seems pretty damned pleased with his Fiio, so perhaps I'd be pleasantly surprised.

If you take the plunge, make sure you pop back in and give us your impressions!

BTW, you said: "I use a Griffin Powerwave or a Nuforce DAC to get better sound".

How do you use a DAC with an iPod?

Edited January 15, 2015 by Scott Dolan